Different path
Your dog is reactive on lead
Lunging, barking, growling at other dogs or people when you’re out walking. That’s a different problem and it needs a different approach. Essentials won’t touch it.
See Reactivity Pathway A private, in-home program for the daily-life stuff: pulling, jumping, recall, puppy foundations. Evidence-based, force-free, built around your routine.
Out in the real world - on lead, at the front door, when the neighbour’s cat streaks across the yard - it falls apart. Your dog knows the cues. The problem is they don’t DO the cues when it actually matters.
That gap between what your dog knows and what your dog does under pressure is not a training failure. It’s the most common thing I see, and it has a very fixable cause: the training happened in isolation, without the management and enrichment pieces that make the skills stick in real life.
Essentials exists for this exact problem. One or two specific things making daily life harder than it needs to be - and a structured plan to close that gap.
Your dog learning ‘sit’ is not the hard part. The hard part is your dog choosing to sit when there’s a cat bolting across the road, a kid on a scooter, and another dog barking its head off twenty metres away.
Most programs only work on the training piece. Teach the cue, proof it in a sterile environment, hope it transfers to real life. It doesn’t - because it’s missing two-thirds of what the dog actually needs.
Essentials is built around M.E.T. - Management, Enrichment, and Training. Three pillars, not one. Management sets up the environment so the problem can’t keep practising itself. Enrichment makes sure your dog’s actual needs are being met - not just “give them a Kong” but genuine behavioural needs that, when they’re unmet, drive the exact problems you’re dealing with. And Training builds the specific skills your dog needs for YOUR life, not a generic obedience syllabus.
The goal by week six isn’t a dog who performs for me. It’s YOU knowing how to read your dog, set up the environment, and make good decisions without me there. Your independence, not my involvement - that’s what “trained” actually looks like.
In this call we have the opportunity to learn more about your dog and the problems that you are experiencing so we can recommend from our three Adolescent training programs and find the one that best suits your needs.
Your first session is in your home. I assess your dog, your household, your daily patterns, and what's actually driving the behaviour - then build a plan specific to your situation.
Between sessions, you get specific homework through the client portal - max five exercises at a time. Film a quick video, send it through, and I give you feedback before our next session.
The program is done when you can read your dog, manage the environment, and handle new situations without me hovering. We go at the pace your dog sets, not a calendar.
*Sessions are outcome-gated, not calendar-gated. I don't know the right cadence for your dog until I've met them - and I'd rather be honest about that than pretend I can predict it from a webpage.
The most loving of dogs, Moses completely forgot mum Danna was there when he was out and about! She reached out to our resident games-based trainer Marianne to help focus her disengaged boy.
Patchy was fearful and aggressive when mum Anna first contacted us -we couldn't even look at her during our consultation! Find out how she has become 'super chill' at home with visitors.
Rescue dog Gregg was on his 4th home when his new mum reached out to help with his barking and lunging at strangers.
